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2011-02-27 - A Beastly Run-in
One of the 16 counties on Mars. Nestled between the Hellespontos Mountain Range to the north and south and a desert to the west, Hellospont County does not play a major role in Martian affairs - and hosts barely any obvious BAHRAM presence. However, the bulk of Mars' population is concentrated there due to its proximity to the Hellas Ocean to the east. It is also home to HBC (Hellespont BroadCasting), one of the most prominent channels on Mars. It sits right in the middle of one the main sphere, at the center of the county. It was one of the few spheres of which the sphere was still perfectly in tact. A lot of business goes on within this particular dome, mostly business. Though there definitely is a large presence on the outside rim, of factories, along with the cheaper housing (though in no ways as cheap as poorer spheres like Pandora Frettum) -- whereas the center consists mostly of medium tall builds and some true high-rises. It is this very county where A-Laws is putting a lot of pressure. With the little to no BAHRAM presence, they have an easy time enforcing their pressure here. In specific, Acemos, a part of the A-Laws under the direct leadership of Zephyrs. A subfaction that is, sadly, composed chiefly of Earthlings who are especially anti-Ender. And that is exactly what takes us to the situation at hand. Believing themselves justified, it is a series of Acemos troops that is visiting a variety of factories in search of possibly 'illegal' units being produced. And with Sinya being unlucky enough to have taken up a temp job in a factory who needed some help repairing their machinery after an industrial accident involving a Gespenst, a foot, their roof, and a large crane... they could use all the help they could get. Wearing a white normal suit without a helm, and with a red symbol on it claming 'Acemos', a threesome of soldiers wander into the place as if they own the place. The factory itself is large, and houses a few worker LEVs. The owner of the shop, who had been on the floor of the main working hall, quickly wanders up to them to find out what is going in. Now, it wasn't that BAHRAM had /no/ presence here. So in a ways, Acemos was justified in doing these searches. A NUT employee, one with blue hair and wearing a neat dark-blue business suit, white undershirt, black tie, dark-blue pants and black shoes -- fairly common attire -- is just coming out of the office further at the top of the building, wanting to know just what is going on. It's Ascian, who is doing his own investigations under the guise of business. After all, he was searching for a specific... group. During her years traveling as part of the Leland cland, Sinya had learned all the phrases that come with being a Trailer, and one of the ones that seems to come up time and again is: Work is work. Although she had been packing up for another trip back to earth to sell some of her refurbished goods and hunt for contract work, the opportunity closer to home was too good to pass up. Like most of the other workers, the cat girl is dressed in a simple jumpsuit, cinched in about her waist with a toolbelt. Unlike the others, hers has been modified to allow the movement of her tail. There were a few others who gawked at her when she first arrived, thinking it was some sort of joke, but all too soon the catgirl mechanic had shown just how wrong they were. Standing off to the side, bent over a table, Sinya is working with a small tool sending off blue sparks. The work surface is covered with all sorts of diagnostic equipment, most of it hooked up to a series of oddly shaped circuit boards. "This is the damaged connection. You can tell because of the energy readings here." She taps a claw on one of the readouts, talking to an older gentlemen who seems to be a little embarassed at being shown how to do his job by someone half his age. "There. See? Once the connection is repaired, the power flows through uninterrupted." She begins pulling off the wires from the diagnostic unit, handing the repaired circuitboard to the confused looking human, when another worker drops a box with a clatter onto her work station. "More parts from the wreckage." He laughs to himself in that way that implies an unspoken: Sucks to be you. "Thanks." Sinya mutters between clenched teeth, watching as the man walks away, laughing to one of his friends and fist-bumping as they talk about 'stupid beastmen'. Plucking up a ball of rubber bands, the catgirl winds up and pitches it right at the back of the man's head where it impacts with a dull thud before bouncing off. "Ow, hey! Why you stupid little..." He seems about to come after Sinya, but then his eyes catch sight of Ascian, and then the arriving inspectors. The combination of the two, and his friend tugging on his arm, seems to be enough to ward off further reprocussions for the time being. Sinya, oblivious to either, sticks a thumb to her nose and waggles her free fingers at the retreating co-worker's behind. "Bleeeeh." That is when she hears everything go quiet, and she turns. The catgirl clears her throat, stands a bit straiter, but but can't help noticing that the rubber band ball has now rolled to a stop right at the toe of the lead inspector. Not good. Ascian continues to look down, watching the antics between the rather 'odd creature', Sinya - who he could swear he recognized the voice of - and the racist Ender. It wasn't entirely unexpected. Beastmen, even in these parts, had a bad name due to Lord Genome. But he knew better than to judge them all by that standard now, thanks to a particular radio conversation. When he catches the look from the man whom had suddenly found himself on the receiving end of Sinya's abilities with a rubber band, he just glares at the man. Maybe it had to do with Sinya being a girl around his age - and with that, more importantly, his sister's - or perhaps it was just that he didn't like the guy. It is hard to figure out what goes on in Ascian's head sometimes. His gaze however, is abruptly torn from that man when the hall goes quiet, and people suddenly go stiff, as the three-some of Acemos troops head in. Through the large door, one could see that a trailer and a single LEV was standing outside - even from his vantage point. This could only mean trouble. At first, he doesn't recognize the militairy uniform, until he squints his eyes. He can't read 'Acemos' from as far away as he is standing, but when he recognizes the emblem, his eyes widen and his hands grip fiercely on the railing he had previously been leaning on. He mutters something under his breath, something about dirty earthlings, before he manages to calm himself. He moves his index-finger through the gap between the tie and his neck, trying to get some more air, before he begins his way towards the metal stairway that will get him to the floor of the factory. In the meantime, the man standing at the front is talking to the owner. He is talking about whether or not he was housing BAHRAM operatives - or B.I.S. rebels, whilst the other two that came with him begin just walking into the factory, beginning their 'inspection', each taking one wall of the place as they begin to look around. The one taking the right side of the entrance seems rather suspicious of the newly repaired roof, but neither take note of Sinya. No, it is the 'leader' of the small Acemos unit that notices her, as that little rubberband roll hits his shoe. He looks over towards her with a sneer on his face, before he looks back at the owner, and points at her. "And /what/ is that?" He demands to know. The man keeps his voice down, but thanks to Sinya's excellent hearing, she manages to pick up what is being said. "Ehhh, she is helping us with repairs, sir." The owner has turned as white as a sheet. The leader turns back towards her. "We'll see about that. Don't you know that those damn beastmen are a big problem on earth!? She could be one of Genome's spies." The factory owner doesn't even dare to speak up. He knows that if he does, he might just get killed. And with that, what can be assumed to be a lieutenant begins wandering over towards Sinya. By this point, Ascian has made it down the stairs and is hiding behind a leg of a worker LEV, trying to get a good hold on the situation, and at the same time grabs behind his back to check the holster for his gun. Good. It was still there. Just in case things would go badly. This isn't the first time that Sinya has had to deal with the military presence on Mars in a less than favorable fashion. She'd spent much of the last few months working on contract repairing some LEVs for a factory that roughly fell under the control of the Divine Crusaders in the form of BAHRAM. Then again, her list of employers is nearly a mile long with that being only one of them. Still the accalaids for her skills were far more impressive than the sheer number of jobs. It's a shame that often times, being a Trailer, that she had to take whatever work there was, even working in not so favorable conditions such as this. One hand reaches up, rubbing at the metal band on her wrist as if the current level of stress in the air reminded her of something. At first, her eyes seem to avoid contact with the inspectors, but it doesn't take long for her ears to overhear the discussion. The fur on her tail puffs a little bit, even as her claws twitch, extending slightly as a low growl rumbles quietly in her chest. Stupid. Stupid humans who /always/ tended to mistake her for one of Genome's monstrocities. Standing a bit taller, her ears slick back against her head, showing all too clearly that she isn't fond of this situation. Even so, her green eyes flash to follow the lieutenant's path, the tip of her tail twitching with that irritated sort of way that cats tend to have when stressed. Her mind, in that dramatic way it has sometimes, overlays an image of an armored Zaibach soldier over the man. In her mind's eye, it replays a scene of her being struck to the ground for scuffing the paint on his guymelef. Her muscles tense, closing her eyes to force the image away as she focuses back on reality. The lieutenant stops when he stands no less than an arm's length away from the feline. He looks large and musclebound, with a slight tan. This somehow manages to show through the normalsuit. "Soooo." The guy says, staring at her with a clear disgust. "What is one of 'you' doing here?" Of course, this man takes note of the easily recognizable emotional features to Sinya at this point. The grin on his face, however, clearly displays how he believes her to be no threat to him. It might have to do with his right hand patting against the black gun at his side. The other two Acemos operatives continue on their way, until the one on the right finds a large box with a screen attached to it. "Hey, look what I found!" The guy points at it. "I think I found a Metatron computer!" To which the owner immediately tries to deny the allogation; "Sir, that is simply a new generation Neumann computer!" - "Shut it! I know what I am looking at!" The inspector doesn't even turn it on to investigate it. Ascian looks at the man. He knew that he was wrong. The young man had already inspected that computer, and it was a simple standard unit. This wasn't a B.I.S. connected facility, OR a BAHRAM one. "Tssk." He crouches down against the leg of the LEV and turns his attention to the man who'd been on the left - who is now walking over to the the guy with the computer. "Well, look what we have have here then. You rotten Enders not only are with BAHRAM, you're even housing one of Genome's rotten little pets." He tries to grab for the collar of Sinya's overall in order to lift her up into the air a bit. "What say you, we arrest these folk." The rumble in Sinya's throat cuts off abruptly as the lieutenant stands in front of her. Putting the two next to one another, no one would consider the shorter, leaner girl to be much of a threat. Her breathing is slow and deliberate, focusing in order to keep control. However, her tail lashes behind her when he grins that wolfish way at her. He's more of a beast than she is. "I am working." She replies in a clipped tone, saying each word slowly as if she were talking to a child. "Last I checked, it wasn't against the law." Her eyes flash down to the gun at his side, and then back up to the man's eyes. Even when the other inspector calls out his findings, causing her ears to twitch in that direction, the girl doesn't move. It's a bold faced lie, the kind she's beginning to expect from the humans like this one who think they rule over all of Mars. "I thought good vision insurance came with the military paycheck. Perhaps you and your associates should look into it, because apparently you're blind." Her tail puffs out, still with a bandage wrapped around the end from facing the sea monster that had threatened Mars not that long ago. "Leave them alone." She snarls, low, warningly, apparently not afraid of standing up for herself, especially against these kind of creeps. As the lieutenant reaches for her collar, Sinya finally breaks into motion, ducking down with surprising speed as she kicks one leg out, sweeping it underneath the man's legs in order to knock him neatly on his backside. There is a quick murmur of conversation among the employees, and a look of shock on the part of the remaining Acemos inspectors. This time, it's her turn to look down on someone. "I am /NOT/ one of Genomes pets. I am from Gaea you moron." She sticks her tongue out in an almost childish fashion, and then makes a break for the door. As she races by her former employer, the catgirl calls out, "Sorry!" She cups her hands around her mouth. "I'm letting you out of your contract. Consider my services rendered free of charge!" Afterall, there was no way she'd be able to complete it from a jail cell, and the last thing she needed was dealing with more blind, racist idiots. Grabbing onto the door of the factory, she uses it as leverage to bolt around the corner and out of sight. Of course, what they didn't know, is that she had her guymelef neatly stashed among the LEVs outside. Yes, this situation was definitely bad. With Acemos involved, they wouldn't even continue an investigation. A suspicion is all they needed. And they'd probably gone from factory to factory so far, with nothing to show for it. Ascian assumed that these men indeed were tired of running around like chickens without heads and found themselves a 'prime' suspect in this factory. He watches as the man raises his hand just as the La Gian feline talks back to him, and winces - expecting to hear that slap any second now. But it doesn't come. Instead, he suddenly hears someone dropping to the floor, and the shouts of the two others, "Lieutenant!" The call out at their commanding officer. "Don't just stand there, get her! She assaulted an Acemos officer! Get her! Shoot her in the leg if you have to!" They both raise their guns, and just as she slips around that corner of the door, she could hear gunshots going off. That's just about the time that the large military LEV which stood before the building turns about as she wanders along, its singular eye fixed on her, following her as she tries to get to the side courtyard, holding this factory's produced LEV units - and begins to step in that direction to follow her. "This is bad." Ascian whispers under his breath and runs along the wall, keeping an eye out on the Lieutenant who was sitting up, suffering from a severe dizzy spell thanks to the leg-sweep, along with hitting his head on the concrete as a result. It doesn't take long for Ascian to catch up with the other two, who are running right after Sinya into the yard. There are easily a dozen of LEVs standing about, along with some trucks and flatbeds. However, there soon won't be any anymore. Because the LEV that had been standing there gets its orders through radio, and begins to open fire on the LEVs, hoping to hit Sinya, making use of its large-shell ammo using machine gun it is holding in its hand. A LEV Sinya just ran between the legs off begins to keel over backwards, as the bolts begin to impact on its bare torso - no armor having been equiped yet. Hiding within the noise of this fire however, Ascian takes his chance to take a shot at one of the Acemos troops and fires cleanly, crouching and using his right arm to stabilize his aim. The Acemos inspector goes down unnoticed, leaving just one, trying to encircle Sinya. "This is rediculous." Ascian mutters, looking up at the LEV which halts its fire to reload. The weapon's chamber had only a small capacity. "All of this, for a beastman who floored a lieutenant?" He wonders out loud. The sound of gunfire is enough to slick Sinya's ears back to her skull as she runs. If nothing else, the little catgirl certainly is quick on her feet, and that might be the only thing that is keeping her out of harms way. She ducks from the sound, moving between the legs of the LEVs as she works towards the back of the row of units, making her way towards a tarp covered unit in the back. "I've really got to stop getting myself into messes like this." She comments to herself, rolling behind another unit just as one LEV comes crashing down next to her. She's too busy dodging pieces of flying metal to notice anyone shooting at the inspectors chasing her. Most of the factory workers are even using the excuse of the chaos to flee. There simply aren't enough people to chase down all the workers as well as one wayward beastmen, but perhaps that was the point of this whole display. Sinya had managed to get all the attention on herself, so that the rest of the factory's staff could get away without getting arrested for something they didn't do. Wincing, the girl continues to run even as a piece of metal lashes against her arm, sending a jolt of pain through her. Luckily, her destination is close at hand and all too quickly Sinya vanishes underneath the tarp covering what most might assume is another LEV. Then again, it seems far too small. There is a hiss, and a sound that almost seems birdlike, and then a clank as metal closes shut. Within the confines of her guymelef, Sinya takes a moment to breathe and then glance at her arm, surveying the damage. The slice was deep, and bleeding quite readily, but at least she still had use of her arm. "Okay Arius. Time to wake up." She slips both arms into the controls, gritting her teeth as a bit of blood flows down along the silver colored gears. Perhaps it is the blood, or the presence of a pilot, but there is a flash of light underneath the tarp. Then, slowly, an arm moves the cloth sideways. The gryphon knight slowly stands, glowing energists turning towards the attacking mech. The thrusters kick on, sending the smaller unit up into the air as it manages to clear the debris of the ruined LEVs. When it lands, it becomes clear that this smaller Mech isn't anything normally seen on Earth or Mars, but would probably be familiar to Ascian. Ascian's moves his hands in front of himself as the LEV which had been fired at finally hits the ground, and rocks the area in a massive explosion. Sure, it wasn't Michael Bay level of explosion, but it was enough to knock the wind out of the young man for a moment. Luckily for him, the sharpnel doesn't fly his way. The walls of the building however, suddenly are pocked with metal shards, and some of the nearby empty LEVs are falling over, spreading dustclouds upwards, from which the Arius ends up blasting out. The LEV beneath takes a few slow steps backwards and aims the large weapon up, trying to get a fix on the girl's unit. Ascian now also gets to see the unit, and he kind of... smiles. "Knew I recognized her voice from somewhere." He mutters, then turns to the LEV yard, where he can see the other man dead. "Tssk. That guy shot - knowing that one of his accomplices was in there? Damn Zephyrs." The young man turns about and faces the LEV, which has all of its attention on trying to aim at the bird mech. *TUMP TUMP TUMP TUMP* Bullets fly. Luckily high enough that the rounds are not likely to hit any civilian buildings. And LEVs were not particularly fast. So what was he to do? Just stand there? He turns about and looks at the door, where the lieutenant suddenly came out and raised his weapon at him. "You! Stop right there!" Oh right. The young man was still holding his gun. Ascian's hands go up into the air. "Drop the gun!" The Acemos Lieutenant demands. One would expect that a bird-shaped mech would be quite quick, and Arius fits the mold perfectly. With the boosters on full, the LEV's shots have no chance at all of actually tracking the movement. It's only when back on the ground that it becomes more of a dangerous persuit. Sure, she could have just fled from the scene, but the advanced visor system of Arius is enough to note more lifeforms still left down below than there should be. "Tssh. Why didn't he run?" She asks herself, clicking a series of buttons on her right hand to zoom in on the image of Ascian facing off against the Acemos Lieutenant. With a quick motion, Sinya reaches to her side, the winged guymelef following the motion as he removes a small cylinder that is attached there. Pressing his thumb down onto the end of it, the cylinder extends into a staff nearly as long as the guymelef is tall. Rather than focusing on the LEV, she instead slams the staff down through ground, neatly planting it right between Ascian and the Lieutenant. "I don't think so." Her voice, robotically amplified by the computer unit installed in Arius booms as she does a little 'tsk tsk' motion with her finger. Of course, she has no idea who Ascian is, and is mostly trying to give him a chance at escaping as she turns back towards the more pressing threat of the LEV. It seems that while the pilot was willing to shoot one of his own comrades, he isn't about to shoot in the direction of his superior, so it gives Sinya an opportunity. She releases the staff and instead decides to go in bare-handed, the smaller mech racing forward with the clomping of metal feet across the ground. Drawing one hand out, it seems as if the mech might just haul off and punch the other machine, but then something happens. The blue energists at Arius's chest darken to purple, and then to red mid-way through the motion. The hand stays open, fingers clenched as they seem to extend like claws. Where the claws impact the LEV, the metal seems to melt as if under great heat, slashing four lines across the torso of the machine. Then, surprised, Sinya draws the guymelef's hand back, looking at it oddly. Then, she looks down at her own arm, where the blood has formed rivulets all the way down to the hand grip, making it slick and sticky. "What the?" She asks herself, blinking as she, and her guymelef, stumble backwards a step. When a gigantic staff suddenly plants itself between the two of them, cracking the pavement a bit, the Lieutenant falls right back onto his ass. In his confusion, a bullet gets fired from the weapon, which just ricochets off of the staff and safely flies off into a nearby wall. Ascian too, had seemed surprised, but he'd managed to remain standing. It appears that he'd had at least that much experience in combat. He slowly turns his head up towards the Arius as it still stands there, smiling slightly at it in thanks, before he suddenly raises his weapon as the staff goes back up. He isn't going to run. He has an intense hatred towards the A-Laws after all. "Drop your weapon!" But, he doesn't simply fire. Instead, he demands the man to give up. The Lieutenant's hands go up into the air, and the weapon drops. Of course, he manages to bite off something about 'Dirty Enders'. But the fact that the guy was wetting his pants was enough to show that he was not used to be on the receiving end of a weapon. "Tssk, cowardous A-Laws." "Get up." The man does as asked, and soon is pushed by Ascian into the trailer that is standing still at the front of the factory, and gets dumped into the back of it, after which the young man closes and locks the back hatch. "And stay in there." He turns his head away then, towards the LEV, which is trying to keep up with Arius. The LEV unit tries to stumble back, to use its boosters as Sinya guides her guymelef towards him, but fails to outmaneuver it. Those claws rake over its armor, cutting into part of what is holding down the booster armor on its torso, and forces the entire thing to dislodge. The pilot, at least good enough to realize what is going on, presses a thick switch - forcing the heavy attachment to execute mini-explosions at similar points, which then drops the booster rocket. Another step is taken back, and it raises its rifle back up. "Die, you dirty beastman!" The man calls out. And that's when it becomes clear what Ascian had been doing in the meantime. Using a speaker within the truck, Ascian warns Sinya, "Step to the left! Quick!" He calls out, and presses the horn of the trailer as it comes dashing forth, rushing straight at the LEV's legs. He places a heavy computer case that had been on the other seat on the gas pedal, and proceeds to jump out of the moving vehicle - which rams into the LEV and causes it to fall over and be taken by the truck and rammed into a nearby dome-section seperation wall, which was marked in grafity claiming '3DG30FM4P' - whatever that meant. Time seems to stop for Sinya as she watches a drop of blood drop down from her arm into the void of the cockpit. Then, as if it had struck some cord that connects her and Arius, a strange feeling echoes in her chest. The clawed talon of Arius returns to a hand, and the moment of eerie connection seems to end. Wincing, Sinya pulls her uninjured arm from the controls and places it over the gash, hissing to herself. That, of course, is when she comes back around to herself enough to notice that the blue-haired man was weilding a gun? Just who /was/ this guy? Her eyes linger on him a moment longer, even as the energists on Arius' chest slowly come back to their usual, radiating blue color. If nothing else, the distraction proves that Sinya is by no means a trained combatant. If the pilot of the LEV had been just a bit quicker, he might just have gotten a shot off before she even noticed. Then again, broadcasting your attack by yelling before it is a quick way of letting others know just what is coming. Ears perking, the cat-girl turns just in time to notice the gun being raised. Then, swiveling, they catch Ascian's call and it's a split second decion. She leaps upwards, seeming to gain more height from one jump than should be able to manage by all understanding of physics, and then lands to the left, just shy of the vehicle's path. Her head turns just in time to see the fireworks as something combusts inside the LEV, causing another explosion as they are rammed against the separation wall. "Who are you?" She whispers to herself, blinking as she holds her arm, shifting her feet so that the guymelef turns back towards the ruins of the factory. "Who are you?" She repeats, this time with the speakers turned on. "We need to get out of here. This is going to attract attention." She notes, one wing pointing at the wreckage. "And I don't plan on spending my formitive years in prison, how about you?" She asks, and then slides her good arm back through the controls, crouching as she offers a hand to the blue-haired man, obviously offering him a lift. The business suit wearing blue haired young man slowly gets back up from his duck&roll out of the trailer. He pushes one hand up against the pavement whilst turning his head upwards in order to look at who was talking to him. The explosion had rocked his body around a bit, so the suit was no longer looking as neat as before. But, through the magical powers of anime physics, the young man himself seemed to be fine. He looks at the wreckage of the LEV for a moment. The trailer too was burning. He'd put the Lieutenant in there... with the intent on letting him live. "Shit..." He mumbles. the realization just hit; he'd just killed two people. Ascian gets on his legs and takes a moment to stabilize himself before turning his eyes towards the Arius once more and then the hand being offered to him. He puts a hand onto its thumb and then uses his legs to climb up further. "Thanks." He says, quickly following this up with, "You are right, I rather not spend my time in prison." He holds on firmly and chuckles. "So, ehhh... let's get out of here." He motions into the direction of one of gates that lead out of this particular dome. "I am not sure if more Acemos are coming - but I wouldn't trust the A-Laws not to." It wouldn't be unusual for someone to feel remorse for any loss of life, but the truth of the matter is that it was a choice between her and them. The Acemos inspectors had started this whole mess, calling her out for being a beastman. It was becoming more common that she has been mistaken for one of Genome's creations, and the worst part of things is that in many ways, she had more right to claim she's from Earth than many of the soldiers in the EFA. "Hold on." She warns as Arius's hand closes around Ascian in a protective manner. Moving at high velocities with a passenger isn't exactly an easy task. She might have been able to put miles between herself and the factory if it weren't for the fact that she had to worry about the blue-haired stranger. Running her fingers along the improvised control panel, the booster rockets kick in, pushing Arius up into the air as he shifts slightly into flight mode, the hand holding Ascian curling inward to be protected by the knight's pauldron. Then, as the whine of the engines kicks louder, Arius shifts from hovering into a forward flight path, moving away at quite some speed. Luckily, sheltered beneath the gryphon's armor, Ascian would be relatively safe, if not a bit confined by the claustrophobic conditions. It doesn't last long though, as the guymelef begins to slow after no more than fifteen minutes. None of the factory workers had seen the guymelef, since it had been hidden behind the LEVs, and there was really little chance of anyone investigating it. With a roar of the engines, a sick feeling of slowing down, and then a thump of metal against ground, Arius lands, slowly unfurling the hand and then placing it down onto the ground to release his impromptu captive. Where they are, is at the ocean, right along the edge of the sea where the water laps up against the land. For whatever reason the cat has chosen this spot as a refuge, perhaps due to a nearby tourist colony which might just be the type of place for someone like her to blend in and lay low for a while. As soon as the guymelef's hand touches the ground, the chest of the mech opens, revealing the catgirl who quickly pries herself out of the harness within and clambers down as it closes up behind her. for a moment, it looks as if the harness is suspended in thin air, with only the most basic hint of a seat which doesn't seem to connect to the rest of the mechanics. "So, who exactly are you?" She asks, sliding down one of the pannels to lando n the sandy ground with an easy, agile grace. "You're certainly no businessman." Her ears perk forward, although she doesn't seem particularly afraid of the blue-haired man. When the hand closes around Ascian, he does his best to get comfortable. he doesn't seem too afraid of getting crushed. Sinya may be a trailer, but that doesn't mean he automatically distrusts her. It wasn't as if she was a Frightner or Raven or Lynx or anything like that - not as far as he knew. Besides, most people from La Gias tended to be fairly well behaved and all that. The light of the dome soon disappears mostly, only a few cracks showing light and air moving through as he feels his body being pushed back against the metal of the clawed 'hand'. He keeps his mouth well closed, making sure he doens't bite himself in transit. His gaze follow the motions outside. Tall buildings speeding past, factories, a tunnel... and then suddenly the temperature lowers a bit. They're outside. He places a hand against one of the claws before himself and moves his fingers against the metal. It felt strange, for some reason. But he simply could not put his finger on it. Then suddenly a pull. He uses that same hand to brace himself as the Arius slows down. He wonders for a moment where they are. But that is a question that doesn't need to remain within Ascian's mind for long, for the hand soon lowers and opens, revealing the ocean. When he then hears the distinctive sound of the guymelef's hatch opening, he turns around whilst holding himself up against the thumb of the bird-like suit. Finally, he gets to eye the girl closely, and little thoughts go through his mind. Ones that remembered his childhood with his sister, and taking care of that black cat of theirs. His gaze temporarily slips past the feline humanoid to look at the cockpit, before skipping right back to her as she lands on the beach, and decides to slip down himself whilst listening to her question. Who was he? "Ah, ehhh. For all intents and purposes, I am an employee of the Nereidum Universal Technology firm." He pauses for a moment. This girl had been put in danger due to him, in a ways. And she'd saved him from getting stuck on the streets with A-Laws roaming about. "But I am also a BAHRAM operative. The name is Ascian Luddite." He extends a single hand forwards, trying to shake hers. And whilst he waits for her to reply to this method of greeting, he sizes her up. It wouldn't be too hard to size up the catgirl, as she simply isn't that tall to begin with. It's her height alone that sometimes makes her seem a bit younger than her actual age, although just how old she is now is unknown, even to her. Things like birthdays tend to get a bit lost when you are a slave. Tilting her head in a quizical, cat-like way, she plants her hands on her hips and looks over at him skeptically at his initial introduction. Sinya might not quite be 'of this world', but she isn't an absolute fool. Her mouth opens, about to question matters when he continues, offering up what she can only guess is his real identity. "Hrm. Ascian then." She reaches her hand out, but rather than taking hold of his palm as would be customary among humans, she instead grips his wrist with her thumb and last two digits, leaving the remaining two claws to touch against the skin of his forearm. It's a gesture that's bound to be a bit disconcerting to many, especially if they weren't expecting it. "Sinya. Sinya Leland by adoption, but my people don't really use surnames." It had been quite an adjustment, being adopted by a human family, and the name thing still hasn't quite sunk in just yet. "Alas, I'm no one of great importance." She draws her arm back, slowly, keeping her claws drawn in so they are no longer than fingernails. "Just a Trailer mechanic with a bad habit of ending up on the wrong side of contracts like that one." She thumbs over her shoulder, and then leans against the side of her guymelef. "So what exactly were /you/ doing there?" Ascian is about to pull his arm back when she reaches further than his hand, almost like in gut reaction, but he manages to stop himself from doing as such. And it wasn't just the way she grabbed him. It was a strange sensation that sends a little shiver through him for a moment, before he looks down at her hand and awkwardly tries to replicate the manner in which she held his wrist. "Nice to meet you, Sinya." In his mind, he repeats the name a few times. It sounded fine. Strange. He'd expected a weirded last name for someone from La Gias. "As for importance. One's only as important as one tries to be." Or so he liked to believe anyhow. A smile forms on Ascian's face however when she claims to be a mechanic. "Ah yes, I remember that you offered your services on the radio." His head nods a bit as he claims this. "Shame you got to see this side of Mars. It's not exactly one of our better features." Right along with 'doomed economy', 'rampant piracy' and 'demons from another world' lays 'oppression'. "As for what I was doing there. I guess the same those Acemos folk were. I was inspecting the factory. I'm looking for members of Born In Space, a rebel organization. With us in such dire straits, I was hoping to perhaps convince them to join our cause." The reaction to her form of greeting has the catgirl looking a bit perplexed. Then again, it's not often that many humans offer to shake her hand, even those she does regular business with. The two reactions tend to be either alure of something foreign, or disgust. "Sorry." She quickly mumbles, looking down at her hand as her ears slick backwards, seeming a little embarassed. "In my culture, it's a sign of trust. Because you're submitting yourself to the will of the other's claws." She lightly flexes her fingers, and then draws both hands back behind her back, keeping them out of sight. For the most part, while her skin happened to be multiple colors and tones, it wasn't actually much different than human skin. The fine layer of fuzz along her arms no thicker than that on a human, with the only exception being the slightly thicker tufts of actual fur at her elbows, cheeks, and shoulders. Of course, it's hard to tell with some of the creatures from La Gias just how far they stray from actual human genetics. "This isn't the first time I've seen it, I'm afraid. I've worked here for a few months, and it's a shame how people get treated. It reminds me of Zaibach back on Gaea." It's only after she's done saying this that she realizes what he had said. He had been in the battle against the sea-monster? Her ears perk as she looks back toawrds him, trying to connect the voice to any of those she heard over the radio at the time. "You were one of the Orbital Frame pilots, weren't you? The one that screamed over the radio." At least she can piece the connections together. "Hrm." Her thoughts seem to bring a moment of quiet reflection, followed by a shake of her head from side to side. "You were looking in the wrong place, I'm afraid. You're more likely to find rebels in the quiet places. Ones that don't hire outsiders and don't draw too much attention to themselves." "It's a shame, really." Ascian offers in reply to Sinya's claim that she'd experienced this before. "I am afraid I don't know much about La Gias, nor Zaibach for that matter. But I guess even that place has problems like oppression. From what I heard, until recently, there was even a region being oppressed by a man named Lord Genome." He wasn't claiming she was one of his beastmen, but instead trying to relate to her origins. He knew she came from La Gias, it had been raised as a subject on the radio at that time. She's refered to it, and still did, as Gaea. But he knew what she meant, so there's no need to correct her or anything of the like. "And you are right." He chuckles nervously, raising a hand behind his head, rubbing his neck, before returning his arms to a position before his chest: crossing them. His posture changes a bit, as he begins to lean on his left leg. "I am indeed that Orbital Frame's runner." The bluehaired framerunner remembers that embarassing moment quite well in fact. Sinya had not been the only one to bring up the girlish scream. "As for the rebels. You are probably right. But there's no such things I can think of in this area." "It's probably better that you don't know." Sinya replies, one hand instinctively coming up to rub at her manacled wrist. She could have had the golden bands removed long ago if she'd wanted to, but they held a reminder for her of just how high the cost of freedom actually could be. "It's certainly not a part of my past that I'd like following me through to this world. I'd much rather stay here or on the mystic moon than ever go back there." Her voice cracks slightly at the last bit, but she hides it well by looking away towards the nearby tourist village. "Listen, I need to get some supplies and lay low for a while." She runs a hand through her red hair, slicking it back away from her face. If nothing else, it's clear that the girl isn't a soldier and the events of the day are starting to sink in. "I doubt the factory workers will turn me in, it would raise too many questions about what the inspectors 'found'." She air-quotes the words, and then rolls her eyes to show just how much stock she took in such things. "Still, better safe than sorry." She reaches into one of the pockets of her cargopants and pulls out a scrap of paper and a pencil, jotting down some numbers quickly. "Here. This is my radio ident and contact. I owe you one for the help back there, so if you need anything let me know." She offers the folded bit of paper out to him between two fingers. "I'm not a mercenary, but I pay off my debts." Her tail twitches out behind her. She's trying not to be rude, of course, but it is starting to get close to evening and she'd have to find a place to hide out for a few days in the meantime. Ascian listens patiently to the feline as she speaks of Gaea with some level of... what was it? He tries to read her emotions from what he can read off of her face. Was that fear? He couldn't quite tell. His gaze quickly flicks to her ears, and he takes in the alteration in voice pattern. He can only presume that she left someone behind there. "Supplies huh?" When the beastwoman mentions this, and begins jotting down some numbers, he himself takes out a pencil and paper of his own and writes down... not just a number, but two of them. Additionally, he even jots down an address quite a few miles away from here. "Here. Fair exchange, I'd say." He takes her number and sticks it into his chest pocket after looking at it - quickly remembering it. "And don't see yourself as in debt to me, please. It was merely a chance of fate, or luck, that we met as we did." Category:Logs Category:The Mars Campaign